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No. 626,24l. Patented June 6, I899.

C. E. MASTEN.

SIGNALING TORCH.

(Apylication filed Feb. 6, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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CORNELIUS E. MASTEN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE MASTEN & \VELLS FIREVORKS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SIGNALING-TORCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 626,241, dated June 6, 1899.

Application filed February 6, 1899. 7 Serial Not 704,636. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known thatl, CORNELIUS E. MAsTEN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Signaling-Torches, ofwhich the following description, in connection with the accom panying drawings, is a specification, like letters and figures on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to a signaling torch or fusee especially designed and adapted for use on railways. Torches or fusees of the class referred to as now commonly constructed and known to me consist of a cylindrical casing of paper or like combustible material closed at one end bya head usuallyprovided with a spur or projection, which is designed to penetrate the ground or the railroad-ties when the torch or f usee is thrown to the ground, as from a moving train, the said casing being filled with ignitible composition, which is usually retained in the said casing byorimping, bending, or folding over the upper end of said casing to substantially close the same. The end of the casing or tube thus practically closed has applied to it a quicklyignitible material or primer.

Torches of the class described are defective in that a considerable time must elapse after the primer is ignited before the fire is communicated to the composition within the easing ortube owing to the fact that the crimped or folded end of the casing must be burned through before the fire can reach the composition. This construction of torch therefore requires the operator or brakeman to hold the torch a considerable time before throwing the same to the ground, and as a result the torch when ignited and thrown is frequently not placed at the desired or proper distance in the rear of the train from which it is thrown, and so also it frequently happens in order to obtain this desired distance between train and signal the torch is thrown before the paper casing has burned through, so that when thrown the composition in the casing frequently fails to be ignited owing to the fact of the insecure closing of the upper end of the casing, which when the torch is thrown is forced open by the composition and the primer is detached from the tube. So, also, the construction of torch referred to is defective in that it frequently happens that the com position which is placed in the casing in a moistened state'and the crimped end of the tube or casing carrying the primer, which end is folded over or crimped while damp, shrink away from each other when they are drying, so that a considerable space is left between the primer carried by the crimped end of the tube or casing and the composition within the said tube or casing, which space is sufficient to prevent ignition of the composition by the primer. Furthermore, it sometimes happens that the crimped or folded end of the tube or casing is compressed to such extent as to cause the primer to be below the level of the end of the tube as will prevent its being reached by the striking-cover usually placed over the end of said tube and which is used to ignite the primer.

To render the torch quickly ignitible, some are left with their end open and merely closed by the quickly-ignitible material or primer. \Vith this latter construction of torch a quick ignition of the composition is obtained; but the said construction is defective in that the composition is discharged out of the end of the casing when the latter is thrown to the ground.

This invention has for its object to provide a signaling-torch which is free from the defeets above referred to and which is so constructed as to insure quick ignition of the composition in the casing without danger or liability of the composition or the primer being discharged from the said casing when the torch is thrown to the ground. This result is obtained by providing the upper end of the casing or tube with a hollow cap or plug, which is firmly secured to the casing and is provided with a crown having an opening normally closed by the primer or quickly-ignitible material, which latter is thus allowed to make direct contact with the composition to insure quick ignition thereof, and which opening in the crown is of less diameter than the hollow plug or cap, so that when the quicklyignitible material is consumed the end of the casing is still practically closed by the cap or plug and the ignited composition is prevented from being discharged out of the casing when the latter is thrown to the ground.

Figure 1 is an elevation of a torch embodying this invention; Fig. 2, an elevation of the striking-cover, which is normally placed over the upper end of the torch shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3, a sectional detail to be referred to. The casing to, of paper or other suitable combustible material, closed at its lower end by the head I), provided with the spur or projection c, and the cover d may be of any suitable or usual material, except that in the present instance the upper end of the casing is not crimped or folded over, but is closed by a hollow plug or cap a. (See Fig. 3.)

The cap 6 is provided, as shown, with a thin body portion 3, adapted to fit tightly within the casing a, and with a lip or rim 4 of substantially the same diameter as the casing a, so as to rest upon said casing, as shown in Fig. 3. The cap e is provided with an opening 5 in its top or crown, and this opening is normally closed by a substantially small quantity of quicklyignitible material or primer 6, which, as shown in Fig. 3, makes direct contact with the composition 7 within the casing. The opening 5 is of less diameter than the body portion 3 of the cap or plug, so that the torch may be thrown immediately after the primer 6 is ignited without danger of the composition '7being discharged out of the casing to such extent as will extinguish the torch, and thereby render it useless for signaling purposes. The primer or quicklyignitible material 6 is normally protected by the cover d, (shown in Fig. 2,) which is fitted over the upper end of said torch and which in practice is provided at its closed end with a suitable material, usually a thin film or layer of phosphorus,with which the primer 6 may be struck to ignite the same.

The cap or plug 6 is made hollow, so as to. expose as large an area as possible of the composition 7 to the flame created by the ignition of the primer 6, and the said cap in practice may be secured in the casing by glue or other adhesive material.

The cap or plug 6 is made hollow, as shown in Fig. 3, so that it may be quickly consumed by the burning composition, and thus obtain a torch which retains the composition in the casing when the torch is thrown to the ground after being ignited, but which is soon consumed, so as to obtain the benefit of a full area of lighted composition.

I claim 1. A signaling-torch, consisting of a casing of combustible material containing a combustible composition, a head attached to one end of said casing and provided with a spur or projection, a hollow cap or plug having a thin body portion inserted into the opposite end of said casing and up into which the said composition extends, the said body portion being provided with a crown having an opening of smaller diameter than the internal diameter of the body portion, and normally closed bya quickly-ignitible material adapted to communicate fire directly to said composition, substantially as described.

2. A signaling-torch, consisting of a casing of combustible material containing a combustible composition, a head attached to one end of said casing and provided with a spur or projection, a hollow cap or plug having a thin body portion inserted into the opposite end of the said casing and up into which the said composition extends, the said body portion being provided with a lip or rim to abut against the end of the said casing and having in its crown an opening of smaller diameter than said body portion and normally closed by a quickly-ignitible material adapted to communicate fire directly to the said composition, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CORNELIUS E. MASTEN. lVitn esses:

J AS. H. CHURCHILL, J. MURPHY. 

